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South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks with reporters during his New Year’s press conference at the Blue House on Jan. 10. (Blue House photo pool)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced plans to cooperate with the US and international community to resolve the issue of sanctions of North Korea as a stumbling block to resuming operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex and tourism at Mt. Kumgang.

“The Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Kumgang tourism have benefitted South and North alike,” he said in a New Year’s press conference on Jan. 10.

“I very much welcome North Korea’s commitment to resuming [those projects] ‘without any precondition and in return for nothing,’” he added.

“This means that the issues to be addressed with North Korea to resume operations at the Kaesong Complex and tourism at Mt. Kumgang have been effectively resolved,” he said.

His remarks signaled that while North Korea’s confiscation and freezing of South Korean assets in retaliation for the two projects’ suspension would need to be resolved before they can resume, Seoul views that as unlikely to be an issue now.

Moon went on to say, “I plan to cooperate with the US and the international commitment for the swift resolution of the remaining matter, namely the issue of international sanctions.” His remarks came in response to the New Year’s address by Kim Jong-un on Jan. 1, where the North Korean leader said the North was “willing to resume the Kaesong Industrial Park and Mt. Kumgang tourism without any precondition and in return for nothing.”

In his Jan. 10 remarks, Moon referred to the Kaesong Industrial Complex as an “inter-Korean economic cooperation effort done properly.”

“While there have been a lot of misunderstandings of inter-Korean economic cooperation in the past as ‘handouts to North Korea,’ we can see that South Korea’s companies have reaped benefits much greater than the wages earned by North Korean workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex,” he added.

“If we factor in not just the [tenant] businesses but the upstream economy supplying raw materials to those companies, it has been a far greater boon to our economy,” he said.

He also stressed the need for preparations for the North Korean economy opening as international sanctions are lifted in response to its denuclearization measures.

“Investors from China and around the world may end up scrambling to enter North Korea to gain the advantage there,” he predicted.

“It is crucially important that South Korea not miss its window of opportunity,” he continued.

“At a time when the South Korean economy is facing structural difficulties and cannot achieve the kind of high-speed growth it experienced in the past, I believe that inter-Korean economic cooperation will become a new and historic growth driver contributing new vitality to our economy,” he said.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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